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<title>we don't hunt alone (beside you I'll stand) by brinnanza</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22869241">we don't hunt alone (beside you I'll stand)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/brinnanza/pseuds/brinnanza'>brinnanza</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>rqg trans conspiracy board fics [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(very mild and only vaguely alluded to), Gen, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Transphobia, Pre-Canon, Trail of Cthulhu Special, Trans Male Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:02:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,100</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22869241</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/brinnanza/pseuds/brinnanza</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do close the door though, Julie; you’re letting the heat out.”</p><p>He wishes they hadn’t settled on that particular nickname - Jules is much more fitting for a man of his social standing - but neither of the Cheedlehume siblings are much inclined to let go of something once they’ve latched on. He gives Muriel a leering smile and waggles his eyebrows as he closes the door behind him. “Hoping for some privacy while you have your wicked way with me, hmm?”</p><p>Muriel just tuts at him and returns to painting. “If you wanted me to seduce you darling, you should have stayed a girl.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Julien Blake/Herbert Cheedlehume, Muriel Cheedlehume &amp; Julian Blake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>rqg trans conspiracy board fics [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637446</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>we don't hunt alone (beside you I'll stand)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hey what's up it's another entry in the "alex's oneshot characters are all trans" series feat. muriel cheedlehume is a lesbian don't @ me. I feel like julian, despite having "pick up artist" on his character sheet, is actually quite nice and encouraging but Inherent Anti-Alex Bias in the specials nets him a bad rap. he's maybe a little over the top but the only person he's actually even a little bit mean to is herbie, and he stands up for muriel more than once.</p><p>anyway, the title is from the mech's "actaea and lyssa" because it's a thing</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Julian raps lightly on the door to Muriel’s bedroom, and waits for her curt, “Yes?” before poking his head inside. “I wonder if I might beg the pleasure of your company. Herbie’s going to be lost in that new journal of his for at least another hour.”</p><p>Muriel turns from her easel, sat beside the room’s large window that overlooks the garden below. She fixes Julian with a level glance, one eyebrow delicately raised. The front of her smock is streaked with blue and grey in shades that match the landscape forming on the canvas before her, and there is an off-white smudge across one cheek. A fire crackles merrily in the grate on the far side of the room, adding a warm orange glow to the sterile white of the electric lamps.</p><p>“Yes, alright,” she says after a moment, as if she has judged him worthy but only just. “Do close the door though, Julie; you’re letting the heat out.”</p><p>He wishes they hadn’t settled on that particular nickname - Jules is much more fitting for a man of his social standing - but neither of the Cheedlehume siblings are much inclined to let go of something once they’ve latched on. He gives Muriel a leering smile and waggles his eyebrows as he closes the door behind him. “Hoping for some privacy while you have your wicked way with me, hmm?”</p><p>Muriel just tuts at him and returns to painting. “If you wanted me to seduce you darling, you should have stayed a girl.”</p><p>Julian knows Muriel doesn’t mean anything by the jape, just as he means little with his own. He heaves a deep sigh, affecting disappointment. “In that case, I suppose I will have to settle for your brother.”</p><p>“Provided he ever notices.” Muriel frowns at her canvas, dabs a bit of navy paint at the edge of what might be mountains. “You know, I rather think you ought to just tell him, dear. You know Herbie; waiting for him to work it out on his own is a fool’s errand.”</p><p>“And am I not a fool?” Julian crosses the room and flings himself into the armchair on the far side of the window where he can watch Muriel paint over her shoulder. “You’re usually so keen to remind me.”</p><p>“And yet I don’t appear to need to, not if you’ll do it for me.” She pauses, brush held up to the canvas, and then she sets the paintbrush down, turning on the stool so she can face Julian. “But seriously, Julie, you know Herbie would spend his whole life ensconced in his studies, never once looking up at the world around him were it not for your influence. He cares for you a great deal, you know; confronting him with your feelings can’t possibly be as devastating as you imagine.”</p><p>“You underestimate my imagination,” Julian says wryly. There’s far too much at stake, for him and Herbert both. “Anyway, I think I’ve got more than enough trouble already without earning a reputation as a confirmed bachelor as well.”</p><p>Muriel hums an agreement. “I suppose, although you’re hardly disabusing anyone of <em>that</em> notion.”</p><p>Julian feigns shock. “I will have you know that I’ve had <em>several</em> drinks thrown in my face by lovely young ladies this week alone.”</p><p>“That’s exactly my point, Julie.” She sighs. “You try too hard. You don’t always have to be so…” She makes a vague gesture toward him with one hand.</p><p>“Stunningly handsome?” Julian fills in. “Devilishly charming? The very picture of masculinity itself?”</p><p>“Yes,” Muriel says dryly. “You know you don’t have to do that with me, darling, not when it’s just the two of us. I don’t need to be convinced; just be yourself.”</p><p>“I’m sure I have no idea what you could possibly mean, Muriel.”</p><p>Muriel just lifts an eyebrow at him pointedly, and then she turns back to her canvas. She considers it for a moment before selecting a new brush, one with a fine tip. She drags the brush through the light blue paint mixed on her palette and flicks in highlights to the sun side of the mountains and the lake forming at their base.</p><p>It’s clearly a dismissal, but she hasn’t asked him to leave, so Julian just slouches in his hair, legs splayed out in front of him. She means well, he knows. She just doesn’t understand the position he’s in. There is nothing overly scandalous about a wealthy, eccentric spinster. That Muriel prefers the company of women is no secret; people may whisper, but she will still be a Cheedlehume, with all the power and privilege that entails.</p><p>And Julian quite simply cannot afford for there to be <em>be</em> whispers. He has fought for every inch of what he has, his name included, and the plinth on which everything rests is liable to collapse under too much scrutiny. Perhaps he has made sacrifices to be taken seriously as both a doctor and a man; perhaps he plays up the scoundrel rather than endearing himself to others. If that is the price of safety, then so be it.</p><p>“I just want you to be happy, Julie,” Muriel says eventually, her voice soft. She doesn’t turn around and her painting does not pause, but the defiant set of her shoulders has eased. “You know that, don’t you?”</p><p>Julian exhales slowly. He does know. For all Muriel scorns him in public, a reasonable enough response to his admittedly boorish behavior, he knows she cares for him in her own belligerent way. Really, it’s a shame their proclivities don’t align; it could have made things so much easier for the both of them. He doesn’t regret the relationship they do have, though. He trusts her with his secrets, and she trusts him with hers. It’s enough to be known, and to know in return.</p><p>He pushes himself up out of the chair and to his feet. Perhaps if he’s enough of a nuisance, Herbie will put the journal down, or at least tell Julian about whatever it is about insects that’s so captivating. He moves to Muriel so he can press a kiss to the crown of her head; he’s not quite tall enough, even on his toes, but she tips her head back just enough that he can reach. “I know, Muriel,” he says. “And I am. Enough, anyway.”</p><p>Muriel turns to frown at him, but he’s already heading for the door. “Do try and stay out of trouble this time though, darling.”</p><p>He pauses with his hand on the doorknob and winks at her. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”</p>
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